


Did It Hurt (When You Fell From Heaven)?

by Nutella_enthusiast



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - No Werewolves, F/M, M/M, Pining, Slow Burn, also mentions of isaac's abuse, that's about as risque as it gets, there's some masturbation but it's not super explicit or anything
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-17
Updated: 2014-02-17
Packaged: 2018-01-12 19:52:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,677
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1197348
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nutella_enthusiast/pseuds/Nutella_enthusiast
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Danny's plan for college involved some drunken parties, hot professors, and getting out of there as soon as he possibly could.<br/>He didn't count on having a frustratingly attractive roommate, who happens to already have a girlfriend.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Did It Hurt (When You Fell From Heaven)?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Liniochtai](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Liniochtai/gifts).



> Prompt: Maybe something where in parallel to their relationship starting/developing/getting more serious (depending on what you prefer), we have the skype calls and/or texts between Danny and Jackson (also maybe "counselling" sessions with Lydia, if you feel like it). Generally Jackson bitching but being the great best friend in his weird brattish way, as a commentary to the romance. If that's possible ? Could be set in any AU or in a setting closer to canon, as you wish !

Danny feels disgusting. He's been running up and down four flights of stairs all morning because he's too lazy to bother waiting for the elevator, and he can feel the burn in his thighs. He can't believe that he spent all of high school playing lacrosse, and ended up being defeated by a few measly flights of stairs.

He has only just pushed the door closed and flopped down on the bare mattress closest to it when it swings open again, revealing a tall, blonde, positively _drool-worthy_ boy with curly hair and piercing blue eyes, and if that's his roommate, he's fucked.

"Hi," says the boy, shuffling his feet, and Danny almost groans. Even his voice is attractive. "Are you Danny?"

"That's me," he says, amazed he's managed to keep his voice steady. He runs a hand through his greasy, sweaty hair and wishes desperately he'd just sucked it up and taken the elevator with the rest of the first day rush. But on the other hand, the boy probably isn't even gay, and everyone knows not to get involved with your roommate anyways. "You're Isaac then?" he asks.

The boy nods and smiles and - _oh god, is that a dimple?_ "Yeah, guess we'll be living together then."

"Guess so," says Danny with a smile, and he waits just a moment too long before he clears his throat and looks away from the Adonis in front of him. "Sorry, do you want this bed? I can move."

"No, no, don't worry about it," says Isaac, finally moving from where he's been frozen in the doorway. "I have a weird thing about being able to see the whole room from my bed anyways."

He crosses the room and puts his black satchel down on the bed, removing his scarf and thick wool cardigan and folding them neatly beside it, revealing a white button up shirt and black skinny jeans, and Danny's surprised he's not melting in the late summer heat. He looks good though; the thin white fabric is pulled tight across his shoulders, showing the hint of what might be a tattoo in faded red or pink ink, and the jeans hug his thighs in all the right ways.

As if he can sense Danny's gaze, he turns back around, and Danny determinedly looks anywhere besides his new roomate.

"I'm gonna go get the rest of my stuff from the car," says Isaac, jerking his thumb toward the door.

"I'll help you," says Danny, jumping to his feet.

His muscles are going to hate him in the morning.

********

"You look disgusting," says Jackson when Danny finally Skypes him, without prefacing it with so much as a hello.

"I let my roommate shower first. Did you know we have our own bathrooms here? No communal showers!" Danny doesn't specifically mention it, but Jackson knows the main reason he's so excited that they have their own showers has a lot to do with how uncomfortable some of the guys on their lacrosse team got when Danny showered with them. It wasn't until mid junior year when Jackson shouted "Jesus Christ, Greenberg, just because he's gay doesn't mean his standards are that low!" that Greenburg would even shower at the same time as him.

"So how's nerd school then?” asks Jackson. “Besides the non-communal showers."

"I haven't even had any classes yet Jacks."

"Yeah, but you have your news face on. What's up?"

Danny huffs a laugh at how well Jackson knows him. "Okay, there's kind of news."

Jackson raises his eyebrows to prompt him to continue.

"It's my roommate. He's like, annoyingly pretty. I think he has a girlfriend though. Some blonde girl dragged him away while I was helping him carry his stuff to our room."

"You helped him move in? When I moved into my dorm here you just sat on my bed and ate all my pizza!"

Danny laughs. "Yeah, but the difference between you and Isaac is that I actually care what he thinks of me."

"That's not - say his name again."

"Isaac?" says Danny in confusion, a smile pulling at the corners of his mouth.

"Oh god," says Jackson, putting his head in his hands. "You've known him for what, six hours? And you're already smiling when you say his name. You're fucked."

"I wish," says Danny, but his smile only gets wider. In the connected bathroom, the shower shuts off.

"Ugh, gross," mutters Jackson. "Don't tell me if you actually do anything."

"You know I will babe," says Danny, grinning.

"I wish you wouldn't call me that," grumbles Jackson good naturedly. "If anyone's the woman in this relationship, it's you."

"I'm not the one who's seen The Notebook twenty-something times."

Jackson is about to retort when the door swings open and Isaac steps out, hair dripping wet but wearing a long sleeved dark grey henley and dark blue plaid pajama pants. The shirt looks soft and worn, and Danny wants to touch Isaac's chest while he's wearing it, to reach his hands up under it and pull it off slowly, licking along the sharp v-line of his hips that he'd noticed earlier as Isaac reached up to put his books on the shelf above his bed, and Danny's definitely getting distracted.

"I’ve gotta go shower," says Danny, and Jackson snorts.

"I bet you do," he mutters.

"Goodbye sweetheart," Danny adds, as flamboyantly as he possibly can, kissing his hand and pressing it to the camera.

"'Bye asshat," says Jackson, rolling his eyes.

"I love you," says Danny.

Jackson rolls his eyes, but mutters "I love you too," anyways, and Danny grins brightly before he hangs up.

"Sorry about that," he says, turning to Isaac and gesturing to the laptop. "We're a little, uh..." He trails off, trying to find a word that actually describes his and Jackson's relationship, but Isaac brushes it off before he manages to.

"Don't worry about it. I get it," says Isaac, and Danny must have imagined the hint of disappointment in his voice, because what could Isaac have to be disappointed about?

********

The next few weeks pass in a blur of homework and classes and teasing Jackson about how he's going to end up a trophy husband, and before Danny knows it, it's Halloween. Erica, the blonde girl who had dragged Isaac off to talk the first day they met, invited him to a party, and he doesn't really want to spend the night watching Isaac and Erica being all coupley, but she'd practically bullied him into saying yes, so the Friday before Halloween he finds himself driving to a costume store, wondering what exactly he can find with only 2 hours left before the party starts.

The mask section is completely cleared out besides the [rubber Richard Nixon masks](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51060Uy4NCL._SX342_.jpg), which he will be seen wearing exactly never, and he finds an army man costume, but the only size left is an XXL. He's actually tempted to start looking in the women's section when he finds a Devil costume in his size, buried behind the masks, complete with red half-mask, black vest, and skintight faux-leather pants.

He can hear Lydia telling him exactly how awful it is, so he grabs it with a grin, forgoing driving back to his dorm once he's bought it, and changing in the store bathroom instead. The pants are a little too tight on him, and his boxers bunch up awkwardly underneath them, so he's forced to take them off, hoping it's not too obvious as he carries them out with his clothes. The bored looking, cat ear wearing girl working at the counter gives him an appreciative look up and down though, so he figures it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

The party is just getting into full swing as he enters, about 45 minutes late. Erica - who appears to be dressed as catwoman but might just be wearing a black vinyl catsuit for the hell of it - screams and hugs him when he enters, but judging by the smell of liquor on her breath and the way she looks at him in confusion and then wanders off, Danny’s pretty sure she doesn't actually recognize him. He rolls his eyes and walks to the kitchen to get a drink, pants squeaking with his every step.

He leans against the stove, cup of something strong and fruity in his hand, scanning the crowd for familiar faces. He sees Erica, dancing a little closer than seems quite platonic with a tall black boy, and considers finding Isaac to tell him, but before he gets a chance, someone taps him on the shoulder.

He turns to find himself face to face with a gorgeous, six-foot-something curly haired angel, and he physically feels his breath catch in his throat. He's dressed in nothing but huge white wings, covering his entire back, tiny gold shorts that make Danny think of The Rocky Horror Picture show, a golden crown that looks more like something a Greek God might wear than an angel, and a beautifully decorated masquerade mask.

"Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?" asks the angel, and Danny is torn between laughing and tearing off what little clothes the angel is actually wearing.

"I may have fallen from heaven but I can still make you fall for me," says Danny with an overly cartoonish wink.

The angel giggles, and Danny takes a step forward. "You wanna dance?"

"Love to," says the angel, grinning and pulling him forward by the front of his open vest, and Danny has a sneaking suspicion that he's only doing it to get a better view of his muscles.

"Are you objectifying me?" asks Danny, smirking.

"Does it bother you?" whispers the angel, leaning forward to ask him, breath hot against the shell of his ear.

"N-no?" stutters Danny, a little embarrassed. He is an expert at picking up guys, the king of one night stands, and somehow in the two months he's spent in college he's become incapable of even holding simple conversations.

The angel moves his hand from the front of his vest to his wrist and pulls him towards the dance floor, stopping suddenly when he finds a spot he seems to approve of and spinning back around to face Danny.

Not expecting the sudden halt, Danny trips forward, colliding with the light haired boy's chest with an, "oof."

The angel catches him and smiles again, and it looks strangely familiar to Danny, but he can't seem to place where he's seen it before. Maybe he's in one of his "nerd classes," as Jackson lovingly calls them.

He adjusts himself carefully, pulling himself to his feet, and the angel uses his newfound balance as an excuse to pull him closer, hands big and warm on the small of Danny's back, just under the bottom hem of his vest.

Danny grinds closer to him, painfully aware of his lack of underwear, but judging by the angel's costume, Danny doubts he's wearing any either. "You look amazing," whispers the angel in his ear.

"Thanks," says Danny. "It was the last costume at the costume store."

"Maybe it's fate," whispers the angel, and before Danny knows it, there are warm, soft lips on his. He kisses back enthusiastically, so close to the other boy that he isn't sure where one body stops and the other begins. The angel's tongue brushes against his bottom lip, and he opens his mouth eagerly, pressing their tongues together lightly.

He's vaguely aware of a girl drunkenly cheering, people bumping into him from every side, and a buzzing feeling against his right calf, but he pays them no mind as he runs his hands down the sides of the angel's arms, the other man practically quivering with pleasure at the feeling of Danny's short, blunt nails. Danny can feel patches of scar tissue the size of silver dollars as his fingers ghost over the angel's elbows, and the angel stops moving, as if waiting for Danny to pull back and be disgusted with him, but Danny just pulls him closer, and after a moment he relaxes again.

The buzzing doesn't stop though, so after a minute, he pulls away apologetically. "I'm really sorry," he says, reaching down into his boot where he'd stored his phone. "It won't stop buzzing and it might be important."

When he finally manages to dislodge the phone from where it seemed to be trying to fuse its way into his ankle, he's missed 4 calls from Jackson and there is another one coming in. Jackson rarely calls him unless it's an emergency, choosing to send him passive aggressive text messages about how lonely he is until Danny skypes him instead so the fact that he's called 5 times sets off all kinds of warning signs in his head.

"Shit," he hisses, silencing his phone and looking back up at the angel, who is looking at him in worry.

"Is everything okay?" asks the angel, and Danny grimaces.

"I don't know. I'm really sorry, I have to go take this call."

"Wait!" calls the Angel after him, and he turns back. "How will I find you?"

"I'll be back I promise!" he shouts. "I'm sorry I really have to go."

He finds a door down the hall that doesn't sound like there's anything going on behind it and he slips through, holding the phone up to his ear immediately. "Jackson?" he says quietly. "Jackson, is everything okay?"

"Dannnnnnnyyyyyyyyy," slurs Jackson over the sound of loud, repetitive music, not unlike the music pounding on the other side of the door. Danny groans quietly. He should have remembered - Jackson rarely calls him unless it's an emergency, or he's drunk. "Danny, I love you, did you know that? I love you like so much. You're my favorite."

"I love you too Jackson," grumbles Danny, trying his hardest to be annoyed with his friend, but having a little trouble with it, considering this is the nicest Jackson ever gets.

"I love you like... like a lot. Like more than Lyds. Juss don't tell her that, okay?"

"Your secret's safe with me big guy," chuckles Danny, making a mental note to tell Lydia what Jackson had said the next time he sees her.

"Dude!" shouts Jackson, and Danny pulls the phone away from his ear slightly. "Dude we should totally get married! Like- like, bro married. But threeway married because I'm gon propose to Lyds as soon as she gets back from her nerd school."

Danny starts at that. He knows that Jackson has always wanted to settle down and start a family, and he knows how much they love each other, but the idea of his two best friends getting married makes him feel a little proud and a lot lonely. He knows that the chances of him finding true love with a man dressed as an angel at a Halloween party are slim, but as Jackson rambles on in his ear about how he needs to be his "best-man-bro-husband" at their wedding he realizes that if he doesn’t take a chance and try, then he'll end up being the perpetually single best-man-bro-husband.

"Jackson-" he says, cutting him off in the middle of saying something about the pros and cons of gardenias. "Jackson I really have to go. I'm really sorry. Call me back tomorrow once you've gotten your head out of the toilet bowl, and we can keep talking about Gardenias then, okay?"

"Okay, bye baby face," says Jackson, and hangs up before Danny can even reply.

By the time he gets out into the living room, the angel is gone.

********

"I hurt," moans Jackson when when he skypes Danny the next morning.

"I'm not surprised," laughs Danny, bright-eyed and perfectly awake after leaving the party at 10:30 when he couldn't find the angel again. He knew that Erica would be mad at him, and he was sure there were other people at the party he would've enjoyed talking to - or even dancing with - but something about the angel had seemed different; it didn’t seem like they were meeting for the first time, more like they’d known each other for months, or even years.

"What did I call you about last night?"

Danny laughs again. "You honestly don’t remember?"

"Noooooo," whines Jackson, laying his head on the table in front of him, so all that Danny can see is the back of his head. "Now stop being so happy, it's making my head hurt."

"I'm pretty sure that's the tequila," Danny says with a triumphant grin, glad to finally have a way to pay Jackson back for all the times in high school when Jackson had made fun of Danny's hangovers after long nights at the Jungle.

"Just tell me what I said please. All I have is the call log and a text to Lydia asking her if she likes gardenias. I don't even know what gardenias are."

"Gardenias are the kind of flower you want at your wedding apparently. You told me that you were going to propose once Lydia gets back from college. You also asked me to marry you."

"Oh god I'm never drinking again." There is a squeak of bedsprings from across the room as Isaac finally begins to shift. He'd gotten in at about 2 AM, muttering things about Erica and vomit and betrayal and tight pants and immediately flopped down on the his bed, stopping only to pull off his costume and shove it into the back of his closet and put on a pair of pajama pants. Danny had been too tired to even bother looking to ogle Isaac in the skimpy costume Erica had most likely forced him into, but he was sure there would be pictures on facebook later, and he was looking forward to seeing them.

"Do you actually want to get married?" he asks Jackson, who blushes scarlet and looks back down at his desk.

"I don't know," he says. "Maybe, yeah. Probably."

Isaac groans loudly and pulls his pillow over his head. “Hey, I gotta go,” says Danny. “I think Isaac’s hungover too, and I can actually probably do something for him. Take some aspirin and go back to sleep, I’ve got to make breakfast.”

“Mail me some,” says Jackson.

“Don’t think it’d travel well, sorry babe,” says Danny with a grin.

“Fuck you.”

“Love you too.”

Danny’s screen goes dark before he can say anything else, so he pulls himself away from the laptop and over to his hungover roommate.

“Isaac? You okay?”

Isaac responds with another loud groan.

“You want me to make breakfast?”

Isaac finally pulls the pillow away from his face - and Jesus Christ, he even looks pretty hungover, that’s not even remotely fair - and nods pathetically, giving Danny the saddest puppy dog eyes he’s ever seen.

“I’ll go make some eggs,” he says, standing up straight and heading for the door.

“Danny?” asks Isaac, voice hoarse.

“Yeah?”

“Can you make coffee too?”

“Cream and sugar?” asks Danny, smiling.

“Lots of both?”

Danny nods and opens the door, to head down the hall to their floor’s communal kitchen. He swears he hears Isaac mumble, “I love you,” as he closes the door behind him.

*******

It’s been two weeks, and Danny can’t get either Isaac or the angel out of his head. He’d even gone to Erica to ask if she knew of a tall, curly haired guy who’d dressed up as an angel for Halloween, but she’d just burst out laughing and disappeared before he could ask anything else.

It’s been way too long since Danny’s had any sort of company besides his hand and his fantasies too, and it’s getting to be a bit embarrassing. He’s getting turned on by the most random and ridiculous things, and if he doesn’t find someone to take out his sexual frustrations on soon, he thinks he might explode. All it takes is the Stilinski kid in his political science class raising his hands up a little too far and revealing a strip of milky white skin at the bottom of his t-shirt, or his criminally attractive criminology professor leaning over to pick up a dropped pencil or - even worse - sitting with Isaac at lunch.

It doesn't even matter what he's eating, Isaac has apparently mastered the art of making any and all foods sexual. He doesn't take bites like normal people do, choosing instead to reach out his tongue and touch the bottom of whatever he's eating before pulling it into his mouth. Danny didn't even know he was into that, but after yet another painful lunch time, and being forced to go to criminology turned on and uncomfortable, he's achingly hard and feeling a little light headed by the time he finally gets back to the dorm.

Isaac has a late class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and Danny thanks god for that, reaching for his belt buckle before he's even gotten the door fully closed behind him. He almost trips in his haste to get to his bed, and he feels like a ninth grader again, realizing that he likes looking at the boys in the lacrosse locker room just a little bit too much. Finally, he gets his hand down his pants, and feels an instant relief. He doesn't bother with pleasure or finesse, just grips himself tightly, and thinks of that day at lunch, of Isaac eating chow mein and pulling the strands of the noodles into his mouth with the tip of his tongue - and this is going to take an embarrassingly short amount of time.

He can feel his orgasm building, and he closes his eyes tightly, picturing Isaac using that tongue on him, and he is just about to come when the door slams open.

Danny and Isaac shout in unison, Danny trying his best to cover himself with the bed covers and Isaac trying to look away before he sees anything he isn't supposed to. It's too late, obviously, but Danny appreciates the effort.

"Okay, I'm decent, you can come in now," says Danny, after taking a moment to collect himself and make sure he's completely covered.

"I'm so sorry," says Isaac, still not looking at him. "I should've knocked or whatever, I just forgot my book and I didn't think- I mean... Sorry," he finally says again.

Danny stares at him in silence, not sure exactly what to do.

“I’ll just... Isaac crosses the room in three quick strides, grabs the book off his shelves and spins on his heel. “See you later,” he mutters, closing the door behind him.

*********

The first thing Danny does when Isaac leaves is take a cold shower, washing his hair much more thoroughly than is really necessary. When he’s sure his boner is completely gone and his hair is completely clean, he climbs out, pulls on the first pair of pants he sees, and skypes Jackson.

It takes Jackson almost 10 rings to pick up, and Danny is about to give up and try his phone, when he finally answers, hair messed up and shirt missing. “Hey,” he says, somewhat breathlessly.

“Is Lydia there?”

“Yeah, she’s visiting for the weekend, but it’s okay.”

“No, I’ll let you get back to it, just call me whenever.”

“Danny, you haven’t let me see you without your hair styled since... ever. What’s going on?”

“His hair’s not styled?” comes a voice from somewhere offscreen, and then Lydia appears beside Jackson, her hair slightly bigger than usual but her makeup and outfit still perfect. “Are you okay? Are you sick? Is it a boy?”

Danny nods and puts his forehead down on the table in front of him.

“Is it the cute roommate?”

“Hewalkedinonmejerkingoff,” says Danny as quickly as he can against the cool wood under his face.

“Excuse me?”

“He walked in on me jerking off,” he repeats distressedly, lifting his head off the table.

Jackson loses it. Danny isn’t sure if he’s ever seen his friend laugh that hard.

“Jackson,” snaps Lydia, and he tries to control himself, but it clearly isn’t working. Danny can see him tearing up from laughing so hard, even through his grainy webcam. “Go get me a glass of water, will you?”

Jackson nods, still clapping like a dying seal, and disappears from the screen.

“Now, tell me what happened.”

Danny tells her the whole story, blushing and stammering through most of it, and Lydia nods along seriously. By the time he’s finished, Jackson still hasn’t returned, and she hasn’t laughed once, and for that he’s eternally grateful.

“Hmm,” she says thoughtfully. “Well, I know this is going to sound completely cliche and useless, but it’s not awkward unless you make it awkward. You’ve just got to laugh it off and then pretend it never happened. If you make a big deal of it then things will just get awkward.”

“I’m pretty sure things are already awkward Lydia.”

"Oh come on Danny, it's not that bad. Everyone does it. Remember that time over the summer when you walked in on me and Jackson?"

"Oh god, don't remind me," says Danny, cringing. "I'd just managed to forget about that."

"See, that was... what, four months ago? Just don't mention it and he'll forget it eventually."

Danny sighs. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Thanks."

"Don't mention it," says Lydia, smirking proudly. "Now I'm sorry, but I have to go have sex with my boyfriend. Good luck."

Danny rolls his eyes, but when Lydia hangs up, he feels significantly better. He knows things will be awkward for a little while, but maybe they won’t be too bad.

*********

Things actually do get better after that. Danny's crush on Isaac is still one of kind of ridiculous proportions, but he takes Lydia's advice and just laughs it off. Isaac starts knocking every time he opens the door, and Danny starts changing in the bathroom, but besides that, things seem to mostly go back to normal within a few weeks.

Danny should've known that things wouldn't last.

He has just arrived home after class on the last day of classes before Christmas break, throwing his books down on his bed and flopping down after them, when the bathroom door opens, revealing Isaac, dripping wet and gloriously shirtless, wearing only a towel wrapped around his waist. He looks up and sees Danny staring at him, and Danny's pretty sure that the resulting blush travels all the way down Isaac's face and neck onto his collarbones. "Shit, sorry," says Danny, averting his eyes quickly.

"You're early," says Isaac, still frozen in the doorway.

"Yeah, uh, Professor Hageland had a five o’clock flight to catch."

Isaac stares at Danny in silence for a moment, before walking over to his bed, not taking his eye off the other boy for a moment, forcing him to walk like a crab, his back facing the wall the entire time. Danny tries his hardest to not ogle the boy too much, but he's never seen him in anything but a long sleeved shirt and pants, and he suddenly realizes why.

Isaac has huge scars on his knees, covering most of the skin of his kneecaps and some below it, as well as what appears to be cigarette burns on the tops of his pectoral muscles. He gathers his clothes off his bed quickly, but not quickly enough to stop Danny noticing the matching scars on his elbows, and what he had thought was a red tattoo the first day they had met, which turns out to actually be a pattern of fading, criss-crossing red scars covering almost his entire back, leaving barely any of his creamy ivory skin unblemished. Danny feels sick, knowing that someone had done that to sweet, beautiful, innocent Isaac, and the moment Isaac closes the bathroom door behind him, Danny turns to the window and opens it, throwing up directly into the leafless rose bushes below him, thanking god they live on the first floor of the building.

He keeps retching until long after his stomach is empty, dry heaving into the plants until his throat burns and he can feel tears forming in the corners of his eyes.

Isaac doesn't come out of the bathroom for almost 10 minutes, but Danny has barely managed to collect himself when the door finally opens.

"H-hey," says Isaac, wearing his usual long sleeved shirt and black skinny jeans. He doesn't meet Danny's gaze, and there is still a bit of pink dusting the tops of his cheekbones.

"Hey," says Danny quietly.

"I'm sorry you, uh, had to see that," mutters Isaac, crossing the room quickly.

"I don't mind," says Danny. "I mean, obviously I mind that you've been hurt like that, but I'm not going to, like, judge you or anything, if that's what you were thinking."

"I didn't-" says Isaac, before stopping himself. "Thanks," he finally says after a long pause.

"You can talk to me about it if you want," says Danny after another pause. "I mean, you don't have to or anything. But if you do want to. You can."

"Thanks," says Isaac again.

They sit in silence for a few more minutes, Danny trying to figure out what to say, before Isaac finally speaks again.

"It's not happening anymore. The - the hitting I mean. Not since I was sixteen."

Danny isn't sure if that makes things better or not. On one hand, Isaac hasn't been hurt like that in years, but on the other, he had to endure that when he was only sixteen - and probably for a long time before that."

"Was it- was it your parents?" asks Danny, looking at Isaac across the room from under his eyelashes.

Isaac swallows hard and then nods, curls bouncing a little. "M-my dad. After my brother died."

Danny doesn't know how to respond to that, so he stands up and crosses the room, sitting down next to Isaac and putting an arm around him gently. Isaac freezes, and Danny's about to move his arm away when the other boy finally relaxes into his touch, placing his head against Danny's shoulder.

Danny's pretty sure that the spot on his shoulder isn't just getting wet from Isaac's still damp curls, but he's not going to say anything if Isaac doesn't. He's done enough damage already.

"Only a few other people know," says Isaac, voice thick. "My, uh, my social worker. My old neighbor. A few friends. And you I guess."

"Am I not your friend?"

"You're... different," says Isaac, choosing his words carefully. Danny is too scared to ask what exactly that means.

"I'm sorry," says Danny, and he's not sure if it's for what happened or for seeing Isaac's scars at all, but he feels like it's the right thing to say.

"That's okay," says Isaac quietly. "I'm glad you know. At least now I don't have to wear long sleeved shirts in here all the time, they keep the heat in this building way too high."

Danny laughs, and the quiet moment ends abruptly, Isaac pulling away and sitting up, and Danny trying his hardest to not miss the warmth against him.

That's when the thunder hits. Isaac yelps and jumps back against Danny, gripping his arm tightly.

"You, uh, you okay?" chuckles Danny, and Isaac blushes and pulls away.

"Yeah, fine, sorry," mutters Isaac. "I just don't really like-" there is another thunderclap and Isaac jumps again, stopping mid sentence and scooching closer to Danny on the mattress. "Thunder," he finally finishes. "When I was 8 my brother Camden and I were playing at the park and a thunderstorm hit. By the time we got back to the house we were both completely soaked, and I ended up with pneumonia."

"Well, I promise I won't let you get pneumonia this time," says Danny, pulling Isaac closer to him and rubbing slow, calming circles on his back, trying to slow his racing heart.

"Thanks," mutters Isaac, and before Danny knows it, the blonde boy has his face buried in Danny's chest, taking slow, deep breaths. Danny leans back slowly, keeping Isaac's head on his chest, until they're laying with their backs against the lumpy mattress and their feet flat on the floor.

"Shh," says Danny at the next thunderclap, running his fingers through Isaac's hair as he shakes ever so slightly. That seems to help, at least a little bit, because Isaac's shaking stops and he pulls Danny closer to him, burying his nose in Danny's chest in an almost dog-like way. After that, Isaac's breath slows down almost immediately, and Danny’s fairly sure he's fallen asleep. He's vaguely aware of thinking that he probably should get up and return to his own bed when sleep claims him too.

When Danny wakes up the next morning, both Isaac and his suitcase are gone.

*********

Danny's parents are in Hawaii, visiting his older sister, but Danny had opted to stay in California with Jackson and Lydia, who's visiting from MIT for the holidays. Christmas comes and goes quickly, Jackson taking every chance he can to make fun of Danny, and Danny subtly bringing up marriage every time Lydia's in the room, and the three week break is over before he even has time to blink. Before he knows it he's in his car driving back to Pasadena, half excited and half nervous. He hasn't talked to Isaac since their impromptu cuddling session, and he's not entirely sure what to say about it.

He had told Jackson and Lydia about the thunder and Isaac’s reaction to it, and Jackson just laughed. “You’re always trying to find the ones you can fix, aren’t you Danny?” asked Lydia thoughtfully, clearly thinking of Danny’s high school boyfriend Ethan, who had transferred to Beacon Hills High School with his twin brother to live with their uncle after their parents had died in an animal attack the summer before. Danny had just laughed it off and forced himself to resist the urge to say, “If only you knew the half of it.”

When he finally pulls back into the school parking lot, it's already almost dark, having been forced by Jackson's mother to take leftover after leftover, and to hug her goodbye at least seven or eight times before she let him leave, shouting at him about how skinny he was and how that school food was “no good,” until he was in his car and pulling out of the driveway.

He sees Isaac's old beat up pickup truck in the parking lot by the door and instantly feels butterflies in his stomach, kind of hating himself for reacting in a way that’s so entirely middle school. He's a grown man now, at least for the most part, and he shouldn't be letting some boy affect him like this. He stomps purposefully up the stairs, duffel bag thrown over one shoulder, ready to tell Isaac that he's not going to judge him or anything, and that if he wants, they can just pretend that the whole day of the thunderstorm never happened.

When he gets to the door though, he can hear talking from inside, and he pauses for a moment, hoping he's not interrupting something between Isaac and Erica - or maybe hoping a little that he is. He just doesn't want to admit that.

There are two male voices speaking though, and Danny knows that eavesdropping is wrong, and that he should just open the door, or at least knock - but then he hears his name. He freezes and leans forward a little, pressing his ear against the door, to hear Isaac's voice, complaining about something.

"...since like the day we moved in. And they're constantly calling each other things like babe, and sweetheart, and saying they love each other, and it's awful. I'm pretty sure they're engaged."

"Oh, dude, I'm so sorry," says another voice, one that Danny doesn't recognize. "You want to come stay with me? It’s like a 20 minute drive but I have an extra bed in my dorm since Matt dropped out."

"No, no, I'll deal with it. I mean, there's only four more months, yeah?"

Danny is in shock. How could Isaac - sweet, gentle, beautiful Isaac - possibly be so uncomfortable with the idea that he might be dating another guy - even if assumed that incorrectly. He's known him for months, and he's never showed even a hint of not being okay with Danny being gay, so why would he start now? Finally, he decides he's had too much and opens the door, to reveal Isaac sitting on his bed next to a dark haired boy with a crooked jawline and puppy eyes to rival the blonde boy’s.

"Uh - hi," says Isaac, eyes opening wide with worry. His friend leans over to whisper something to him, and he punches the boy on the shoulder, before turning back to Danny. "Um, Scott this is Danny. Danny, this is my friend Scott.”

“Pleasure,” says Danny tersely.

“How, uh, how much of that did you hear?" Isaac asks.

"Enough," snaps Danny throwing his suitcase down on the bed. "I'm going to take a shower."

Isaac stares after him, mouth open and eyes wide, and Danny slams the door behind him without giving Isaac a chance to stick his foot any further into his mouth. It isn't until he's undressed and has the hot water pounding on him that he realizes he was so quick to get out of the room he forgot to grab any clean clothes. ' _Fucking homophobic prick,'_ he thinks, angrily running his hands through his hair. _'He'll probably think I'm trying to seduce him or something.'_

He tries not to think about the fact that until about 10 minutes ago, that was something he was seriously considering doing.

When he gets out of the shower, considerably cleaner but not any less angry, he wraps the towel around his waist and opens the bathroom door carefully, thankful to find the room empty. He walks over to his suitcase and opens it, pulling out a pair of boxers and his old lacrosse sweats and dropping the towel to the floor. The pants are halfway up his legs when the door opens and Isaac comes in, glancing over at Danny before turning bright red and covering his eyes with one hand. "S-sorry," he says, purposefully looking anywhere but at Danny, and a few weeks ago he would've found it endearing. Now he just pulls the pants up over his boxer briefs and flops down on his bed, avoiding Isaac's gaze.

"Beacon Hills, huh?" tries Isaac again, but Danny just glares at him. "My old friend moved to Beacon Hills. Well, not friend exactly, but, uh..." he trails off, looking at the floor, and when Danny doesn't reply, he seems to give up, laying down on his own bed and pulling one of his old, dog-eared books of the night stand. Danny tries to focus on the essay that he has due in two days that he'd put off all of break, but all he can think of is all the conversations that he and Isaac shared, and whether or not he should have seen this coming.

Eventually, it gets to be too much for him, and he shuts his laptop firmly and rolls over, reaching up and turning off his lamp. He burrows down under his covers, until only the very top of his head is showing, and hopes that maybe a good night's sleep will make him feel better.

The room is completely silent save for the occasional sound of Isaac turning a page, and Danny is brought back to long nights staying at Lydia's house when he was 14 or 15, and his parents went out of town on their business trips. Back before he came out, when everyone thought they were going to date. Before Lydia had gone through her phase of thinking that being smart was something to be ashamed of, and before Jackson moved to town.

Danny had been supposed to sleep in the guest room, but he had terrible nightmares every night he was away from home, so he would sneak into Lydia's room at one or two in the morning, after her parents had been asleep for hours. He’d crawl into her queen sized bed, rest his head on the pillow next to hers, breathing in the scent of her apple shampoo, his toes cold against her warm legs and fall asleep to the sound of her turning the pages of her book.

He pictures Lydia turning the pages instead of Isaac - beautiful, kind Lydia, who just said “okay,” and returned to her book when he told her that he liked boys a little more than he thought he was supposed to - sometimes reading a section of it out loud under her breath, as if she’s wondering how the words taste in her mouth, so focused that she doesn’t even realize he’s next to her, looking up at her, wondering how one person got to be so perfect.

By time Isaac looks up from his book at the boy across the room from him and whispers, “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean for it to happen,” Danny is already asleep.

*********

Danny's never been very fond of Valentine's Day, but this one is his worst so far. He's already resigned himself to a night alone with a glass of wine and Love Actually on Netflix when the door opens and Isaac comes in, walking over to his bed and avoiding Danny's gaze. Danny's been trying so hard to not say anything, to just let bygones be bygones, because everyone has reasons for thinking what they think, and he only has four more months before he can request a different roommate, but it’s been over a month since he heard Isaac and Scott’s conversation and he can’t handle it anymore. The combined frustration of this stupid holiday, and the fact that his criminology professor had assigned him 30 something pages of reading that weekend, and that for some reason he had to end up with the stupidly attractive homophobic jackass for a roommate boils over, and before he can stop himself, he's snaps, "shouldn't you be with Erica?"

"Wh-what?" asks Isaac, clearly confused that Danny's talking to him for the first time in weeks. "Why would I be with Erica?"

"Are we thinking of the same Erica? The gorgeous blonde one? You know, the one that you're dating?"

"I'm not dating Erica."

"Oh, did she dump you? Remind me to congratulate her."

"Erica's dating Boyd. She has been since like junior year of high school.”

“Then why-” Danny starts, but Isaac cuts him off before he can say anything else.

“And why would you think I was dating Erica anyways? I thought it was pretty clear that she’s, uh, not really my type.”

“How the hell would I know what your type is?”

“I thought you heard what I was saying to Scott when, uh, when you got back from break.”

“Yeah, I heard you say that I was constantly telling Jackson that I love him and that you think it’s awful.”

“Wait - do you think - did you think I wasn’t okay with you being gay?”

“Well why else would you think me and Jackson’s relationship is so awful?”

“Because I’ve been in love with since like the second day of term!”

Danny shuts his mouth abruptly. “You’ve what?”

“I thought you were mad at me because you found out how I feel about you.”

“That’d be pretty hypocritical of me, wouldn’t it?”

“You- what?”

“Jackson is my best friend, and I call him things like sweetheart to bug him, but we’re definitely not dating.”

“So...” says Isaac, looking like his brain is shorting out. “So you don’t mind that I like you?”

“Well anything’s better than thinking you hated me because I’m gay. But considering how much I liked you, I’m pretty sure that wouldn’t have been a problem.”

“You mean I didn’t have to spend the last six months feeling pathetic and making out with random guys at Halloween parties to try to get over you?”

Danny freezes, making a sudden realization. “What did you just say?”

“I’ve been trying to get over you?”

“No, no, the guy at the Halloween party. He wasn’t, uh, wearing a devil costume, was he?”

Isaac’s mouth drops open. “Is this why Erica just laughed when I asked her if she knew who the guy dressed up as a devil was?”

“Oh god she did that to me too.”

“That bitch,” mutters Isaac.

Danny can’t hold him back any longer. He surges forward off his bed and presses his lips to Isaac’s. He is so eager to kiss him that their noses collide, and they pull back a little, giggling, before Danny finally gets the angle right and kisses him properly, all soft lips and frustration passion and lust. When they finally break apart, they are both breathing heavily, and Isaac’s cheeks are flushed pink.

“I, uh, I guess that I could forgive her,” Isaac says breathlessly.

Danny answers by pressing their lips together again.

*******

They fall asleep side by side, after several hours of kissing, and this time when Danny wakes up, Isaac is still there, running a finger gently along the side of Danny’s jaw.

“Morning,” whispers Isaac.

“Morning,” hums Danny with a smile.

“You know, you never answered my question,” says Isaac, not moving his hand away from Danny’s face.

“What question was that?” asks Danny.

“Did it hurt when you fell from heaven?”

Danny just rolls his eyes and pushes Isaac away from him, only feeling a little bad when the taller boy falls off the edge of the bed in a sudden flail of long limbs.

“Only about that bad,” says Danny with a grin.

“You’re the worst,” pouts Isaac.

“Yeah,” agrees Danny, but when he pulls himself to the edge of the bed and kisses Isaac, the other boy reciprocates eagerly.

“Okay, maybe you’re like, the second worst,” says Isaac, before he kisses him again.

**Author's Note:**

> Sorry the ending is a little rushed, im no good at endings.
> 
> I have some headcanons for this that didn't really fit into it, so I figured I'd just tell you here.  
> -Derek is the frustratingly attractive criminology professor  
> -Isaac disappeared at the party because Erica needed someone to hold her hair back while she threw up  
> -Jackson is Isaac's old neighbor who moved to Beacon Hills  
> -When Scott leans over and whispers to Isaac, what he says is, "damn dude, I'm straight and I'd tap that."
> 
> I'm so sorry this is late. I started it on Wednesday because I have a serious procrastination issue, and I planned on it being like 2000 words. 7600 words later, it's mostly done. I hope.  
> Also I have a graphic that I've made to go along with it, but I don't know how to link it without doing it from a tumblr post, so I'll just include a link once authors are revealed. I might also write a oneshot about Danny and Lydia's friendship before Jackson, because I think that's the cutest thing ever.


End file.
